GM Tarondor's Emerald Spire Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

I went to the Emerald Spire and all I got was this stupid masterwork bastard sword.

Are we going to spend months clearing this bastard level by level only to find a single empty treasure chest at the bottom with 'friendship' etched into the bottom?

There may be the occasional copper piece or cure minor wounds potion.

You mean we're not doing this for cake? I swear someone promised me cake... lol

Lilika hungrily devours the porridge before wiping her mouth and asking for seconds. By the time they're done eating, she stands and stretches. "Let's keep exploring this level. We can start in the room with the skeletons."

The Cake is a Lie.

Well, you've pretty much cleared the room of the skeletons of any opposition. Looking around, you find the various caskets are now all empty except one. In it, you find a small silver horn etched beautiful carvings of what appear to be clouds.

Wymond gives a small whistle when they find the horn.

"Give this a little spit-n-polish an' there'd prob'ly be a bunch of folks who'd want it in some kinda collection!"

He opens his pack to put it in.

"I got the strongest back, an' I got no use fer this, so ye know I ain't gonna try to cheat ye out of it."

Let me know if you want to explore further.

I believe that's the plan, though handing back is my plan so no door-kicking-in for me.

We can press on, I think. I still have 3 uses of Lay on Hands today! ;)

Yirrik claps Wymond on the back, "Thanks my friend...and Lilika...I'm fit as a fiddle, now. I say we continue. With the necromancer and his minions taken care of, we can use this little corner as our base of operations."

GM, can I assume the poison effects from the spiders have worn off?"

Lilika regards Wymond with a raised eyebrow. Cheat me out of it? Why would I want a shiny bit of art? Has it some purpose I'm unaware of? After another glance at the horn she turns from it to examine the room. She had no interest in purposeless objects.

Does that say something about me, or about where I came from..?

After finding nothing else of interest in the coffin room, she looks for a door...

Sorry, I can't access the map on this device. Is there another exit out of this chamber? If so, I vote we go that way!

Perfire: The spider venom has run its course.

Lilika: Yep, there's a door leading south.

You managed to force open the ancient doorway, revealing a rubble-strewn hallway.

The floor of this small hallway is partially blocked by heaps of stone rubble. A skeletal human hand protrudes from one pile of rubble. The debris looks old, and the few sagging strands of web draped over the rubble seem to have been here for some time.

The rubble is difficult terrain but is otherwise not dangerous. You can easily step over the rubble to open the doors in the hall; none of it needs to be shifted to let the doors swing open.

Wymond keeps his eyes peeled for more undead or spiders.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Lilika eyes the rubble warily...
Knowledge Engineering (why did it collapse?): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

And the hall for dangers, hazards, and signs of recent activity...
Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Survival: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Then she waits for Yirrik and Wymond to lead the way forward.

Yirrik advances slowly, carefully over the rocky debris....

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

... he pauses , looking up, then points, "I wonder where that goes...maybe it's another way in..."

Lilika, the ground looks solid enough. Difficult to traverse quickly, but not dangerous. And the doors look clear.

Yirrik indicates a hole in the ceiling.

Wymond looks where Yirrik is pointing.

"Huh! Good eye, mate!"

He positions himself under the hole and waves Yirrik over.

"Get on my shoulders, I'll give ye a boost."

'Careful!' Perfire calls worriedly from the rear

Lilika watches carefully to see how Yirrik fares on the climb...

Waiting on Yirrik.

Yirrik sets down his pack and pulls out his rope, hammer and pitons.

He then arranges his sword on his belt so it wouldn't get in the way, and hops up onto Wynond's shoulders and tries to lever his way up into the hole...

Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

The shaft ascends another 5 feet, then turns horizontal as a 5-foot-diameter tunnel that runs about 10 feet and ends. It’s carved from solid rock and contains four leather waterskin, four small wooden coffers of salted food (two with fish fillets, two with slabs of roast boar; this preserved food is far too salty to eat without being soaked or scrubbed), and 50 feet of stout rope knotted to a triple-hook steel grapnel.

I'm finally done with that nonsense at the hotel (Mark Wahlberg and his family were there to open their new Wahlburgers restaurant in the Mall of America)!

Wymond grunts a little as Yirrick gets on his shoulders, but does so with a smile.

"See anything up there, Yirrik?" he asks.

Perfire frets as Yirrik disappears into the shaft.

Lilika waits at the bottom of the shaft, listening for the sounds of Yirrik, or anything else that might be up there...

Yirrik goes up and brings down the supplies hidden up there. "Hmm... I wonder who this belonged to? Well, it's ours now!"

Wymond smiles at the discovery of the food.

"Ooh, I can make somethin' tasty with this stuff. Give it a good scrub te get it less salty, an' add some veggies, some herbs, an' ye got a feast fit for a River King!"

Surprisingly, Triath appears unfazed by the sight of boar meat. Wymond suddenly frowns.

"Though to GIVE it that good scrub we'd need a handy source of clean water. I'm not about to waste what's in our skins for a good meal. Lilika, yer a druid, right? You know how to cast spells what can make water? If'n you do, we won't need to return topside to replenish!"

Fun fact, pigs LOVE pork. I worked at a summer camp awhile back and on ham day I always made sure to go down to the pig pen at feeding time. They would go hog wild over those tasty bits of pig flesh

'This is fantastic news. No offense, but another meal of oats and I may have turned into a horse.'

Yikes! I was just sorta roleplaying Triath as not being upset about it because he works for the god of hunting and thus is cool with that stuff. I knew pigs were omnivorous, but I didn't know they liked cannibalism!

"Besides, ye need to have protein in yer diet too. A healthy diet makes a healthy hero!" Wymond replies with a smile.

Triath may be a little more discerning. Pigs are smart, but Triath is all magic and what-not. He may understand the ramifications of what exactly goes in to those delicious baby-backs you offer him.

Lilika nods. "Does anyone have a bucket I can fill?"

She picks up a waterskin and tosses it over her shoulder. Then she picks up the rope and slips her arm through it.

I've just doubled my inventory. lol.

"Sorry, Lilika, I don't," Wymond replies sheepishly.

Lemme know when you're ready to move forward.

Was there a bucket around the work table back in the spire room. It'll probably need a good solid wash, but it may be all we have

Did he bring them down with the coffers they were held in? If so, I can fill those. We'll handle it later, though.

I leave all the carrying of this stuff to those of you who are spoiled enough to own a backpack. lol

Lilika walks over to the nearest door and examines it cautiously.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Then she looks at the others. "Seems safe."

She tries the handle, and opens the door.

Unless of course Yirrik wants to check it for safety *hint hint*

Wymond suddenly snaps his fingers.

"Oh sod, I forgot! I've got me iron pot! Ye can conjure the water in that!"

Yirrik's Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

"Yep, looks okay," Yirrik agrees.

Trying the door, Lilika finds it is locked.

This is where I break the GM compact and have pity on you. You guys never searched The Master's remains. This occurs to you now. You run back and rifle through his decaying robes to discover three things (in addition to his masterwork sword): A key on a chain, a vial of liquid and a small thumb-sized cylinder of unbreakable green glass.

Lilika picks up the small green hunk of glass. Her eyes widen. "I... I owned a piece just like this... before.... I thought it might have come from the Spire." After a moment of silence she adds, "The bandits must have taken it from me. I didn't have it on me when you freed me from the spider webs." She turns it over in her hands a few times, then passes it to the others to examine. After we know if it has a purpose or is magic, Lilika would like to hold onto it, please. It looks a lot like a clue from her past.

She looks at the vial, but has no idea what it is, so she passes it on to Perfire.

The key on the chain she puts around her neck. "I'll try this in the lock."

What kind of sword did he have? Longsword?

---

Back at the door, Lilika tries to key in the lock.

Perfire turns the vial slowly in his hands, attempting to disern what, if any, magical properties it might have.

Detect magic

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

"The Master's" sword was a masterwork bastard sword.

Pefire learns that this vitally important item is a Spire Transport Token. Each level of the Spire has a corresponding rune etched into it. Someone who has studied the rune and carries a Spire Transport Token can instantly teleport around in the Spire's many levels. Simply speak the name of the appropriate rune while holding or carrying a Transport Token and touching the Emerald Spire and you will be instantly transported to that level. You can bring one other person and cannot use the transport system more frequently than 1/hour.

Beyond the door is a large room. Wisps of decayed and sagging spider webs droop from the walls of this room, which appears to be empty except for the long-dead, dismembered corpse of a giant spider and a stout, freestanding wooden closet in the southwestern corner. The ceiling is covered with dusty spider webs bulging down from a grid of wooden beams and plaster fifteen feet above the floor. Faint moans and plaintive sobbing come from the closet.

Wymond gives a suspicious "hmmph" as they enter the locked room.

"Watch the ceiling. We don't wanna get swarmed again."

He starts carefully approaching the crying closet, and gingerly taps its door with the tip of his bardiche.

"Oi, you alright in there? Yer not a deader, are ya?"

The answer is unsurprising. The closet falls apart at the lightest touch, revealing a desiccated but surprisingly mobile corpse that leaps to the attack!

Everyone put your token on the map where you want to be.

We haven't heard from Yirrik in awhile. I'll send him a note.

Yirrik Initiative: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Lilika Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Wymond Initiative: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19
Perfire Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Dead Guy Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

STATUS
Perfire
Wymond
Yirrik
Lilika
Dead Guy

@ GM: Does Perfire know the what the rune on the Spire Transport Token says? Can only one person hold the token? Or can all of us touch it when activating it?

Lilika steps into the room cautiously, as Wymond taps the closet door.

Placed!

Triath trots next to Lilika, keeping an eye on Wymond. He gives a small squeal as the monster emerges.

"Heh! Knew it! Another deader," Wymond says, bracing himself to get ready to strike.

Wymond and Triath are in position!

Perfire focuses his will and a slippery grease appears on the ground and the walls below and behind the creature.

casting grease on the square I've indicated with the intent of having it only affect the creature by having the rest go up onto the wall.

@ GM: Does Perfire know the what the rune on the Spire Transport Token says? Can only one person hold the token? Or can all of us touch it when activating it?

It's just a few rooms away. You can go look after this, but I'd say that Perfire knows how to pronounce the rune (and the one for the level above) just from having studied them previously.